Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Reduces Holdings in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its stake in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) by 5.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,600 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in World Kinect were worth $884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of World Kinect by 6.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 527,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,697,000 after buying an additional 33,332 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its stake in World Kinect by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,358,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,263,000 after acquiring an additional 149,433 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its position in World Kinect by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 52,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,394,000 after acquiring an additional 682 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP grew its stake in World Kinect by 77.5% during the 1st quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 44,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 19,467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of World Kinect by 76.6% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 139,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,599,000 after purchasing an additional 60,500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.06% of the company’s stock.

World Kinect Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of World Kinect stock opened at $26.28 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.16. World Kinect Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.96 and a fifty-two week high of $31.70. The company has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.26.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62. World Kinect had a return on equity of 6.29% and a net margin of 0.30%. The company had revenue of $10.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. World Kinect’s quarterly revenue was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that World Kinect Co. will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

World Kinect announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 9th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 11% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

World Kinect Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. World Kinect’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other World Kinect news, CEO Michael J. Kasbar sold 58,948 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.92, for a total transaction of $1,645,828.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,019,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,452,238.96. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on World Kinect from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of World Kinect from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of World Kinect from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $33.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of World Kinect from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.20.

World Kinect Company Profile

World Kinect Corporation operates as an energy management company in the United States, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. This segment also offers fuel management, price risk management, ground handling, dispatch services, and trip planning services, such as flight planning and scheduling, weather reports and overflight permits; payment and processing services; and operates a web-based marketplace platform.